MemoryWell grew out of the experience our founder, Jay Newton-Small, had caregiving for her father, who had Alzheimer's. When she moved him into a senior community, she was asked to fill out a long questionnaire about his life. This made no sense: who would remember pages of hand-written data points for 100+ residents in that community? Instead, as a longtime TIME Magazine correspondent, she wrote his story for his caregivers and pasted it on the walls throughout the community.
It transformed his care.
Two of his caregivers were Ethiopian and they'd had no idea Jay’s father, Graham, had lived in Ethiopia for years early on in his career with the United Nations. They became his champions, sitting for hours asking him about what it was like to work with Emperor Haile Selassie.
Seeing the impact her story had on her father’s experience was enough to influence Jay to transition from her role at TIME to launch MemoryWell.
